Aircraft Drawings

A B-17G-15-B0 with representative 8th Air Force markings. Triangle A identifies the 91st Bomb Group, LG identifies the 322nd Bomb Squadron and R identifies the individual airplane in the group. Note the name "Chow Hound," and cartoon on the nose and the row of painted bombs indicating nine bombing missions.

mance and versatility so impressed the Japanese that they were described as "four-engine fighters used for all purposes."

The lessons of the European war came together in the first of 512 B-17Es, which left the factory in September 1941. The aircraft had a new rear fuselage structure that housed a tail "stinger" with pounds by using external bomb racks under the wings.

With wartime demand exceeding Boeing's capability, Douglas and Vega (subsidiaries of Lockheed) were called on to build additional B-17Fs. The 2,300 built by Boeing were B-17F-B0; the 500 by Vega were -VE; and the 605 by Douglas were -DL. The B-17Fs were the first to use the block mrnm^mmm

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The first 112 B-17Es had small, remotely sighted belly turrets. The 113th B-17F and all later models used the manned Sperry Ball turret (shown).

yystt/SSffj two .50-caliber guns and top and bottom powered turrets, each with two .50s, and a single .50 in the waist stations and radio room (a total of nine .50s), plus the single .30 in the nose. The tail stinger was a big surprise to the Japanese, making them wary to approach all B-17s from the rear. Crews of older B-17s took advantage of this by putting dummy guns in their tail cones.

The most distinctive external feature of the B-17E was the larger vertical tail with a long dorsal fin. American B-17 operations over Europe began with a raid of 12 B-17Es over Rouen, France, on August 17, 1942, but it wasn't an ail-American operation; the escorting fighters were British Spitfires.

The B-17F was outwardly similar to the E except for a slightly longer molded Plexiglas nose cone. Its bomb load increased to 8,000

The first 112 B-17Es had small, remotely sighted belly turrets. The 113th B-17F and all later models used the manned Sperry Ball turret (shown).

yystt/SSffj number system, but there was no direct correlation between, say, a B-17F-5 built by Boeing, Vega, or Douglas.

Combat with B-17Es and early B-17Fs revealed the plane's vulnerability to fighter attack from straight ahead, so various additional nose-gun arrangements were tried on B-17Fs in combat. The best solution was to replace the .30-caliber nose gun with one or two .50s in the nose cone and to add a single .50 in a bulged blister on each side of the nose. (This permitted almost straight-ahead fire.) Boeing developed a two-gun "chin" turret that was installed on the very last B-17F-VEs and -DLs and was to have been on the B-17F-135-BO. Boeing cancelled the F-135 and combined the new turret with other changes to produce the B-17G-1.

The B-17G looked identical to the late B-17Fs with chin

Vega.

The American bombing career of the B-17 ended on V-E Day, but the B-17s served the Army and, later, the U.S. Air Force (created September 18, 1947) in many utility roles until 1960. Its final role was as a live target for anti-aircraft missiles that were built, ironically, by Boeing.

Odd B-17F variants were

Tail-gunner's station from the B-17E midway through B-17G production. Late Gs had a revised design that was developed at United Air Lines' modification center, site of earlier modifications.

turrets. Boeing built 4,035; Vega, 2,250; and Douglas, 2,395. The B-17G was the last production B-17. Designations as high as B-17P were postwar modifications.

Britain obtained additional Fortresses under Lend-Lease. The 19 Fortress lis were B-17Fs. The 45 Fortress 11 As were B-17Es that carried later designations because existing airplanes were obtained while the Fortress lis were being built. The 85 Fortress Ills were B-17Gs; the first 30 built by Boeing and the remainder by

A top-powered gun turret and forward navigator's astrodome were added to B-17E and retained through subsequent models.

A top-powered gun turret and forward navigator's astrodome were added to B-17E and retained through subsequent models.

the the B-40, the XB-40 modified by Vega and 20 service-test YB-40s converted by Douglas. They had two top turrets, twin, powered waist guns and extra armor, and they carried double the usual ammunition. They were intended as escorts for other B-17s before the long-range fighters were introduced. Their major shortcoming was that owing to the weight of their extra guns and armor, they couldn't keep up with the fast, light empty bombers on the run home.

At the end of the war, the U.S. Navy obtained 31 late B-17Gs for use as unarmed, radar-equipped PB-1Ws (Patrol, Boeing, Anti-Submarine Warfare). The U.S. Coast Guard also acquired 17 B-17Gs (designated "PB-1G"—"G" for Coast Guard) and used them for air-sea rescue work (sometimes with lifeboats under their bellies) and for routine patrol and mapping work. The last PB-1G mission was in October 1957.